What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)?
California
So I have a neighbor who rents out his house - never met him before since buying 3 years ago. Rear side of property had an tall, old ivy wall. My property is about a foot or 2 higher than neighbors at that spot. Ivy is planted on my yard and the fence base the ivy grew on is right on the line (where the raised part of my property is). Ivy has been there probably 30-40 years - very thick at base and became one with the fence - and on my side in general - but pretty wide now. On my side it appeared as a thick ramp of debris on the ground and an ivy wall from there. I couldnt even see much trace of the underlying fencing at the base. Well that underlying fence and a bit of the ivy was leaning into his yard - probably for a while - but not obvious from my part of the yard. I never saw it from his side. I dont know if it leaned more recently - the majority of the wall showed no sign of any change recently - but its very thick esp the lower half of it.
Well this past Saturday - he hired his gardener to take the wall down to the underlying fence - with apparently a plan to remove it and put up a wood fence in the next couple weeks. He probably took off about 6 feet or so. Now section of wall leaning is leaning more obviously. Anyway - he didnt tell me anything about this plan. He just did it. I had never met/seen him before. I confronted gardener after it happened (when I discovered it) - he showed me the problem on the other side (which no arguing, was an issue I had no knowledge of). He came over in afternoon and I confronted him. He didnt have good reason for not telling me and just had an "it was leaning in my yard and I dealt with it."
Now - not ALL of it was leaning - but he sheared it off all the same. It was thick - so he could perhaps argue the "thickness" was over his line. We talked and I told him he should have talked to me first. I told him I wanted a say in what goes up. He was agreeable in all of our discussion - but Im still mad and worried about what else he may do without talking to me in the future - never mind that this ivy was growing from my side. I am not sure if it can be salvaged and the fencing fixed and re-grown, or if a completely new fence has to be put in (green or otherwise). I have to have a landscaping company tell me what is possible.
It WAS leaning in one section - and I was unaware of it - but still.
1. How SHOULD I have reacted to such a thing when I discovered what he did?
2. Did I have any legal grounds if it was leaning into his yard (part of it on the bottom anyway - the wall itself was upright - which tells me it must have been leaning a bit for a long time as you couldnt tell by looking at the wall in general - only if you were on his lower side looking at it (hard to explain without a picture)
3. What should I do now? My plan is to go in with him on some replacement boundary - but Im still really mad he did this without consulting w me.
Thanks for any thoughts contributed!!
Cheers.
California
So I have a neighbor who rents out his house - never met him before since buying 3 years ago. Rear side of property had an tall, old ivy wall. My property is about a foot or 2 higher than neighbors at that spot. Ivy is planted on my yard and the fence base the ivy grew on is right on the line (where the raised part of my property is). Ivy has been there probably 30-40 years - very thick at base and became one with the fence - and on my side in general - but pretty wide now. On my side it appeared as a thick ramp of debris on the ground and an ivy wall from there. I couldnt even see much trace of the underlying fencing at the base. Well that underlying fence and a bit of the ivy was leaning into his yard - probably for a while - but not obvious from my part of the yard. I never saw it from his side. I dont know if it leaned more recently - the majority of the wall showed no sign of any change recently - but its very thick esp the lower half of it.
Well this past Saturday - he hired his gardener to take the wall down to the underlying fence - with apparently a plan to remove it and put up a wood fence in the next couple weeks. He probably took off about 6 feet or so. Now section of wall leaning is leaning more obviously. Anyway - he didnt tell me anything about this plan. He just did it. I had never met/seen him before. I confronted gardener after it happened (when I discovered it) - he showed me the problem on the other side (which no arguing, was an issue I had no knowledge of). He came over in afternoon and I confronted him. He didnt have good reason for not telling me and just had an "it was leaning in my yard and I dealt with it."
Now - not ALL of it was leaning - but he sheared it off all the same. It was thick - so he could perhaps argue the "thickness" was over his line. We talked and I told him he should have talked to me first. I told him I wanted a say in what goes up. He was agreeable in all of our discussion - but Im still mad and worried about what else he may do without talking to me in the future - never mind that this ivy was growing from my side. I am not sure if it can be salvaged and the fencing fixed and re-grown, or if a completely new fence has to be put in (green or otherwise). I have to have a landscaping company tell me what is possible.
It WAS leaning in one section - and I was unaware of it - but still.
1. How SHOULD I have reacted to such a thing when I discovered what he did?
2. Did I have any legal grounds if it was leaning into his yard (part of it on the bottom anyway - the wall itself was upright - which tells me it must have been leaning a bit for a long time as you couldnt tell by looking at the wall in general - only if you were on his lower side looking at it (hard to explain without a picture)
3. What should I do now? My plan is to go in with him on some replacement boundary - but Im still really mad he did this without consulting w me.
Thanks for any thoughts contributed!!
Cheers.
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